


Rewrite the Stars

by feyreofthewildfire



Category: Throne of Glass Series - Sarah J. Maas
Genre: 'The Greatest Showman' AU, AHHHHHHHHHHH, Aedion is Phillip Carlyle, Based off of 'Rewrite the Stars' from The Greatest Showman soundtrack, F/M, I love this movie, Lysandra is Anne Wheeler, No knowledge of the movie needed either, No spoilers for The Greatest Showman, and these characters
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-26
Updated: 2017-12-26
Packaged: 2019-02-21 22:14:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,230
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13153101
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/feyreofthewildfire/pseuds/feyreofthewildfire
Summary: “Let’s rewrite the stars then.” Aedion grabs the rope above where her own hand sits as her feet touch the ground again. He’s taller than her at this height, towering over her. She allows the hand that slowly sets itself on her waist. “No one needs to have a say in what we are except us.”-Aedion's a bit of an optimist. Lysandra knows it's not that easy.





	Rewrite the Stars

**Author's Note:**

> 1) i literally saw 'the greatest showman' two hours ago. i wrote this in about an hour. plz forgive if it is trash  
> 2) knowledge of the movie is NOT needed to enjoy this!!  
> 3) please enjoy!!!

* * *

 

_What if we rewrite the stars?  
Say you were made to be mine_

 

* * *

 

When no one else understands, at least the ropes do.

Lysandra had already stripped off the silly gown she’d thrown on in exchange for practice clothing, shapeshifted herself with the muscles necessary for her favorite act. True, she switched acts every night to keep the mystique, but she had always found herself back at the ropes—trapeze bars and aerial hoops that hoisted her high in the air, where she could fly without retribution, without being shot down.

Images of Aedion’s wretched parents run a loop in her head; the sneers on their faces, the disgust. It was nothing she hadn’t seen a thousand times before but in front of Aedion… Perhaps she had cracked. Perhaps it had mattered.

She’s so lost in her own thoughts that she almost misses the sounds of the doors to the stage opening—undoubtedly Aedion with some fanciful words to throw her way about how the opinions of others didn’t matter and that they could be together despite that.

As much as Lysandra wanted him… He could never understand. The scrutiny. The disgust. She was a shapeshifter, had been unable to control it in her youth. Even now, fully grown, everyone knew who she was. A freak of nature. Unnatural. Her magic was devious—she could rob a bank or kill someone, they all claimed, without anyone knowing it was her. Elemental magic could be traced back. Shapeshifting left limitless criminal possibilities, even if she had never wanted to commit any crimes.

“Lysandra!” She doesn’t bother to look up at the sound of her name, trying to finish taping her hands as fast as possible. She didn’t want to talk. She wanted to fly—to forget even if only for a few hours, even if the ropes tore through the tape and made her bleed.

Aedion’s polished shoes stop at the base of the stairs she sits atop of, though now covered with the dust that lines the floor of the performance ring. “I.. I’m sorry about them. They don’t understand.”

She sharpens her teeth into canines only long enough to rip the tape, finally finishing her right hand. “And you do?” Lysandra looks up as she stands, taking in his disheveled appearance. His jacket has been lost somewhere, bowtie hanging undone around his neck, breathing heavy as if he’d ran to find her. She wouldn’t be surprised.

“I…” he stutters, “I won’t claim such a thing. But I don’t care, and neither should you. Let them say what they want.”

All she can do is scoff at his ignorance, walking over to the post where the rope had been wrapped. If she could get into the air, she wouldn’t have to listen to his nonsense anymore. “Spoken like a man who’s been given everything.”

Blessedly, he doesn’t follow after her. “I don’t want everything. I want you.”

Finally, the rope is loose. She walks to the center of the performance ring with it, preparing herself to be upheaved into the air—hoping for it. “Wanting isn’t enough, Aedion. Some things just… aren’t possible.”

He stalks over to her, coming toe-to-toe with her. “I don’t care what I have to do. I’d rearrange the sky for you.”

“Are you arrogant enough to think that the world will bend at your command? That oceans will rise and fall because you tell them to?”

The weight drops and she’d hauled into the air, hanging dozens of feet in the air. The air is easier to breathe above, her body on autopilot as she spins and wraps herself on the rope. It’s as though she’s free-floating in the air, uninhibited by the weights of society that hold her to the ground. In the air, Lysandra is anything she wishes to be. Nothing can stop her when she’s on her ropes—Not even Aedion Ashryver and his incessant dreams of a world that will not exist. At least, not in their time.

“That’s hardly fair.”

She spins herself to face him, looking down towards the ground with little pause. There was nothing to fear in a fall; she could simply shift into a bird. “Nothing is fair, Ashryver. I will not yield to you, and neither will the world. Get over yourself.” Thanks to gravity, she begins to descend back to the ground. Lysandra only wants to stay in the air.

“Let’s rewrite the stars then.” Aedion grabs the rope above where her own hand sits as her feet touch the ground again. He’s taller than her at this height, towering over her. She allows the hand that slowly sets itself on her waist. “No one needs to have a say in what we are except us.”

The rope lets go again, trying to pull her up. He stops it. A frustrated groan escapes from her. “Do you really think it’s that simple? There are mountain ranges and doors with no handle, not even a lock for you to pick. Some things can’t be done, no matter how much we may want.” She shoves him away, “Let go. You’re not trained for this, and even your brute strength won’t keep the weight down for much longer.”

As commanded, he backs away from her. “No one can rewrite the stars, Aedion. What you’re saying is impossible—and I’m not even the one you want. I’m just a… a commodity. Something new and shiny to play with. Please, just leave.”

His response is lost in the whirring of the ropes as Lysandra’s pulled into the air once again, this time hanging upside down with the rope coiled around her right leg.

There had been nothing to tie her hair back with, leaving it to fall freely towards the ground. Instantly, she makes it half the length. The weight of it on her head was unneeded, and she no longer cared what others thought—what _Aedion_ thought. She’d left those prejudices on the ground below her, in a neat pile where’d she forced to pick them back up once gravity pulled her down.

Lysandra still wondered sometimes why she hadn’t opted to live as wildlife—to give up that human side of her and become the animal that her mother had always told her she was. Something ferocious, something mean. A snow leopard, or a mountain lion perhaps. Something that would be left alone.  

“It’s not impossible.”

She turns to her left and there he is—standing on the railing of the mezzanine like an idiot with a death wish. Which is what he was, if he wanted to be with her. Aedion only hangs onto the pillar next to him with a single hand, body leaning out towards her, easily over three dozen feet in the air. But he doesn’t look down. No, he stares at her.

Turning herself upright, she begins to descend from the rope, slowly falling towards the ground. Her feet touch the dirt floor with little more than a slight tap, her movements near silent as she rewraps the rope around the post. It seems that Lysandra would get in no practice tonight, after all.

“I’ve never hidden how much I want you—but wanting isn’t enough. My hands are tied.”

Aedion doesn’t make a sound as she walks towards the door, closing it behind her with nothing more than a soft _click_.

**Author's Note:**

> come scream at me on tumblr @feyreofthewildfire  
> kudos and comments give me the motivation to get through the piles of homework and write! warning: i tend to word vomit in my responses  
> have a lovely, lovely day!


End file.
